20 February 2017 ROME — Some 30 representatives of the Filipino community organizations in Rome attended a “Forum on Women’s Health” organized by the Philippine Embassy in Rome on February 16.

The forum aims to bring attention to the health issues affecting women, such as cancer.

Dr. Domenico Cristiano Corsi, Director of the Oncology Ward of the San Giovanni Calibita Fatebenefratelli hospital in Rome and one of the resource persons, informed the participants that the most common health problem among women was breast, colorectal, or cervical cancer while men were susceptible to prostate, lung and bladder cancer.

According to Dr. Corsi, the 2015 data on cancer patients in Italy revealed that there were 3,037,127 cancer patients. The figure represents 4.9 percent of the Italian population.

Although cancer treatments in Italy have progressed every five years, the disease remains the second leading cause of death in the country of 59.8 million people. Thirty new cases of cancer are reported each day for persons below 40.

Dr. Corsi explained that two preventive factors against cancer involved a healthy lifestyle that includes proper diet and a less harmful environment, and recourse to early diagnosis of cancer symptoms to allow intervention that would change the natural growth of the disease.

Since 30 percent of cancer cases in Italy were related to poor diet, Dr. Diana Semenova, consultant of the oncology ward of the San Giovanni Calibita Fatebenefratelli hospital, gave participants practical tips on proper nutrition.

Philippine Ambassador to Italy, Domingo P. Nolasco explained that the health forum was one in a series of initiatives rolled out by the Philippine Embassy this year as part of its mandate to promote the welfare and interest of Filipino nationals in Italy.

There are about 168,000 Filipinos in Italy and 57 percent of whom are women.

The forum was organized in collaboration with the Associazione Italiana Malati di Cancro, Parenti e Amici (AIMaC), which was founded in 1997 in Rome to provide information on cancer and therapies to victims, their families and friends.

AIMaC holds office at Via Barberini 11, 00187 Rome. It can be reached through its website www.aimac.it or phone no. +39 064825107. END